Topsy-turvy
by Bookcrazysongbird
Summary: On temporary hiatus for rewrites (will be posted as a separate story), will post AN chapter when rewrite is posted, and when rewrite catches up to current plot development in story, and will be marked as complete when the rewrite is complete.
1. Prologue: I know this

Summer Break, I love summer, thought Anna as she drove to the mall. As soon as she was there, she made her way into the Gap. She would find something to send to her sister in San Antonio. Wow. Texas seems so far away from Oregon. I was looking through tops when a guy about my age came up and said, "Hello, I'm Anik. Haven't I seen you at WOU?" After momentarily being distracted by his golden eyes and overall handsomeness, I recovered enough to answer, "I don't know. I go to WOU so it's possible but, I don't know." He grinned, "What did you say your name was?" "I didn't. But it's Anna. You said your name was Anik right?" He flashed a devastatingly handsome smile, "I did." I smiled remembering a Tiger's Curse (My all time favorite book series) character with the same name. I grinned, "It wouldn't happen to be Anik Kishan Rajaram would it?" He frowned, "I thought you said we hadn't met." "Oh. We haven't." "But you know my name." "I didn't actually think it would be your name." "Well," he grinned suddenly quite cheerful again, "see if you know anything else about me." "Ok," I pretended to think pensively, "you were named after your uncle and grandfather, both of whom died in a plane crash." He visibly paled, "Mom, Dad, you might want to come over here." A man and woman walked over and it was my turn to lose all skin color. "Oregon, cobalt blue eyes, Asian. Brown hair and eyes, American. I know this. Hello Ren. Kelsey."

**Hi! Ok, sorry this chapter is so short. Think of it as more of a prolouge. Also, all reviews are welcome. Even mean ones. Although, I like nice ones more!**


	2. How much do you know

**AN: Sorry if the perspective change throws anyone off. Anna's now telling the story in the first person. **

Kelsey paled and Ren was suddenly right in my face. "How much do you know?", he demanded, his voice low and dangerous.

"You mean about the curse?" I asked.

A curt nod was his only response.

"Everything." That one word seemed to resonate through the air. As if it changed all of out lives. Come to think about it, it probably did. "Um, I'm guessing you want to know how I know and I'm guessing now isn't the place to tell you."

"No", a shaky voice that came from Kelsey said. "It isn't. Would you be comfortable coming to our house?" Kelsey questioned.

"Uh yeah sure. Can I just grab one thing from my apartment first?"

"Of course. What if Anik goes with you so that he can give you directions from your apartment to our house."

"Yeah, that will work. By the way, name is Anna." I saw Ren's eyes widen in shock as I went to my car with Anik following behind.

Anik seemed to be deep in thought. We were halfway to my apartment when he finally asked me, "What did you mean by curse?" The question definitely caught me off guard.

"You mean they never told you?"

"No"

I looked at him with something that felt like pity. "You just might be in for the shock of your life."

TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD

I pulled up the long driveway to Ren and Kelsey's house. It looked exactly like the book described. Anik and I walked in. I now had a bag over my arm. We walked up and were greeted with a delicious smell.

Anik grinned, "Stuffed pasta shells and breadsticks! Mom makes the best food."

I grinned knowing the exact significance of THAT particular meal. Apparently, Anik didn't know about that either.

He opened the door and called, "We're here!"

Kelsey came in and smiled "Come sit down we can talk over dinner."

We walked into the dining room and were greeted by Ren. "Come in. Anik, Anna." As soon as he said my name I realized why Ren's eyes had widened when he heard my name.

"I'm not Anamika, just in case you were wondering."

Kelsey's eyes widened with a look that said 'that's exactly what we were wondering' but instead she responded, "Of course not."

Ren cleared his throat. "I don't believe introductions are necessary, but you can call us Ren and Kelsey. No need to be formal."

I nodded. "Ok. Now, about the question of how I know who you are." I pulled four books out of my bag Tiger's Curse, Tiger's Quest, Tiger's Voyage, and Tiger's Destiny. I murmured, "Alagan Dhiren Rajaram, Prince of the Mujaalin empire. Kelsey Hayes Rajaram, chosen one of Durga."** (AN this isn't going to be a Tiger's curse reading. Anna just brought the books as proof)**

Ren stared in wonder at the image on the cover of the first book, "But that's me!"

I nodded, "These books tell everything from the moment Kelsey applies for a job to a little bit after you two read Kishan's letter." I grinned wickedly, "All from Kelsey's point of view."

Kelsey paled, "Thoughts and emotions?"

I nodded.

"What!? Take these off the table!"

Anik, Ren, and I burst out laughing while I put the books back in the bag.

As soon as we finished laughing Anik's demeanor changed completely, "As funny as that was, one thing is bothering me. Dad, what did you mean when you said that was you?"

"Oh, um, well, the thing is," I watched as Kelsey tried to spill out the story.

Suddenly, two people walked in. Both seemed to be of Indian descent. The man had golden eyes flecked with bronze and the woman had piercing green. "Perhaps we could help explain little sister," Anamika's voice rang though a suddenly silent room.


	3. Unexpected Visitors

**A/N: OK, 3rd chapter! I'm going to update even if no one reads or reviews it, but if you're reading, please review! Also, thank you to people who have been reviewing, I will definitely keep writing. **

**Disclaimer: None of the stuff you recognize is mine (that goes for the last few chapters as well!)**

"Anamika? Kishan?" Ren's voice resonated through the room.

Anik's face was a mask of pure shock, "Kishan?! My uncle!?"

Kishan's golden eyes danced. "That would be me."

Anik rounded on his parents, "You told me he was dead!" Anik was obviously quivering with barely suppressed rage. I decided it was time to intervene.

"Anik," I said, placing a hand on his arm, "Your parents' story isn't an easy on to tell. Try giving them a chance to explain."

Anik unclenched his muscles and collapsed into the nearest chair.

Ren, Kelsey, Kishan, and Anamika exchanged glances that confused me until I remembered certain places in the book where Kelsey would calm Ren or Kishan down with a hand on their arm.

"Geez!" I blushed, "Is it not possible that words can calm people down?"

Everyone laughed while Anik looked on confusedly and my face turned redder and redder.  
>"If we're all done jumping to conclusions. Maybe we should tell Anik what's going on."<p>

"Could we explain it by reading those books?" Ren asked innocently.

"No!" Kelsey glared at him.

Anamika sighed, "As simple as it would be to read it we don't have enough time."

I nodded. "I could give a short summary, but we're going to need proof."

Kishan nodded, "I can still change, Mika and I have the fruit, scarf, necklace, and rope. We have the Damon amulet and if I temporarily give up my ability to change into one of my incarnations, Ren can change without having to break the curse all over again or needing to use the scarf." Kishan said and pulled a small disc out of his pocket, "Oh! Kelsey, here's the Damon Amulet, you'll probably get the most use out of it."

Kelsey grinned, "Useful."

Kishan snapped and gestured towards Ren.

Ren groaned, "The tiger's back. I can feel him."

I nodded, "Well, it looks like I can explain. Here goes nothing," I took a deep breath and began, "Kelsey got a two-week job at a circus. While she was there she developed a bond with a white tiger called Dhiren. One day, a man called Mr. Kadam came and purchased the tiger. Kelsey agreed to accompany the tiger to a reserve in India."

Kelsey sighed, "I still can't decide if that was the best or worst decision of my life."

I grinned and continued, "While in India, the tiger got loose and ran into the jungle. Kelsey followed him and had to wander around the jungle with a tiger for a few days. Eventually, the tiger led her to a hut where she turned around to find a man and the tiger nowhere in sight. The man said to calm down, that he was Ren, the tiger and showed the rope Kelsey had leashed the Tiger with as proof."

"Wait just a minute!" Anik yelled, "The tiger turned into my dad."

I nodded.

"The man right here? At this table?!", Anik's voice rose with every word he spoke.

I nodded once again and turned to Ren, "You probably want to show him," I murmured.

He sighed, morphed into the white tiger, ambled over to where Kelsey was sitting and put his head on her lap. She grinned and began to stroke his fur.

Anik looked shell-shocked and was having difficulty speaking, "But, you, Dad, never, wha-?!" He took a deep breath and yelled, "Why didn't you tell me?!"

I sighed, "Remember when I said you were in for the shock of your life?"

Anik nodded, "You were right. I don't know-" He trailed off as he saw me shaking my head.

I looked at him and said, "You think this is shocking? You ain't seen nothing yet." Anik looked surprised and more than a bit scared.

"Anik," I said, "your father is a 300 year old Indian prince."

Anik froze and stared at me then looked at each of us in turn, finally, his gaze turned to his mom and dad, "Is this true?"

Kelsey sighed, "Oh Anik, we wanted to tell you, but how do you explain something like this? Especially without proof." Anik seemed very confused about this, "But you have proof," He gestured to Ren the white tiger.

I shook my head. "They didn't have proof. Kishan also has the ability to change into a tiger, a black one not a white one, and due to, certain circumstances, he also has the ability to change into other forms. Kishan gave up his ability to change into one of his forms in order to give Ren back the ability to change into the tiger again." I turned to Kishan, "I must admit I'm curious as to which form you gave up and why, if my deductions are correct, you don't want to broadcast those reasons."

Kishan grimaced, "Whether or not your deductions of that are correct I can't say for sure, but you were right about me not wanting to broadcast them. However, I am curious to see if you are correct."

I nodded. I seemed to be nodding a lot lately. "Pull out the scarf." I mentally told the divine scarf to write out the message I wanted to send.

_Ok, first, the reasoning behind my guess. You are married to Anamika who is also Durga. One of Durga's incarnations was Pavarti. Pavarti's husband was Shiva. That makes you Shiva. Now, Shiva was the one who cast Pavarti's necklace to the waves. Also the one who sent his servant to guard the necklace as a shark. Then, after you won her back. The other god (What was his name?) stole the necklace and changed into a shark that "guarded the necklace for all eternity" or at least until you three came and Ren and Kelsey killed it (trident darts and lightning/fire took down a megalodon, who would've guessed?). But, all this means that if you hadn't cast Anamika down to live among mortals in the first place, the shark wouldn't have been there to terrorize y'all (especially Kelsey) in the first place, thereby making you indirectly responsible for Kelsey almost losing her leg and almost dying, both of which would've happened if not for that milk. So, I'm guessing you chose to give up your form of Shiva because you didn't want to be reminded of the above information while you were here._

Kishan's jaw dropped and he turned to look at me, "That's exactly what I was thinking. How did you know-?" His voice trailed off and he looked at the message again, "Y'all?"

I grinned, "I knew because I realized the whole 'Hey! If this person is this person then that person is that person' bit when I was reading the books for the third or fourth time, and as for the 'y'all', I'm from Texas,"

Ren and Kishan both paled and Kelsey burst out laughing.

Anik, Anamika, and I stared, puzzled, from person to person until I started laughing as well, "I'm not gonna start talking like Wes! He didn't even talk like that! No one in Texas actually talks like that!"

Ren and Kishan looked at each other suspiciously and Kelsey was laughing so hard that she was crying.

Anamika turned to Kishan and said, "What exactly was in this note? Hmmm? Do tell,"

Kishan's face lost the color it had regained, "I'm fine with not telling, really, I am."

I grinned, "Really not something you need to worry about Anamika, now back to the story," I paused, "Unless someone else has something to add," When no one answered, I continued, "After Ren convinced Kelsey that he was indeed a tiger and a 300 year old prince under a curse, he asked her to help break the curse. When he had been captured, he had been unable to transform back into a man, until Kelsey came along. For some reason, after she looked in his eyes and said, 'I wish you were free,' he was able to change into a man, and contact Mr. Kadam who came to Oregon to purchase Ren's freedom, something he had also unable to do until then, which made him think Kelsey was the chosen one of Durga."

Kelsey interrupted, "How do you know that was the exact moment. I don't remember it being specified?"

I nodded, "It wasn't, but it seems to be the most likely candidate."

Anamika nodded, "Trust her judgement, little sister, she's right."

Kelsey scowled, "That nickname is getting a little bit old."

I smiled innocently, "But it's true!"

Kelsey's eyebrows raised, "What do you mean it's true?"

"Well," I started, "you are married to Ren, Anamika is married to Kishan, Ren and Kishan are brothers, which makes you sister-in-laws. Anamika is older than you, making you her younger sister."

Anamika grinned, "A valid point."

Kelsey threw her hands in the air, "Ok! We're keeping the nickname. Can we at least eat lunch?"

Kishan grinned, "As soon as everyone's here."

Ren frowned, "We didn't invite anyone. Did we?"

Anamika spoke tersely, "You didn't."

Kelsey stared from Anamika to Kishan, "Then who-"

She was interrupted a beautiful Asian woman with long black hair, an Asian man with the same eyes as Anamika, and a girl who looked to be about five years younger than Anik and I. She looked like her mom, but had her dad's easy smile. Anamika laughed and went to hug the man, "It's good to see you again!"

"I suppose you are the one who asked us to come here?" Sunil asked his sister.

**A/N: As you can see, things are getting more complicated, it's a good thing Ren, Kelsey, and Anik have a big house!**


	4. Life or Death

**A/N: Sorry it took so long to update! My computer glitched and deleted it.  
>Special thanks to Princess Meria for naming Ameria.<br>I forgot to ask in the last chapter, what does everyone think about Kishan's "Shark Problems", does it seem cannon?**

**Disclaimer: If I owned it, would it be adding a disclaimer?**

I gaped at the two other fictional characters and their daughter before practically exploding, "Oh! Is this everyone then, or is Li gonna drop by for a visit?! Lokesh planning on reincarnating himself for a guest appearance?!" Everyone turned to stare at me like I'd grown a second head, "Look, I'm sorry, it's been a stressful day."

Sunil and Nilima's daughter turned to stare at me, "I just found out that I have an Aunt I didn't know existed, my uncle, whom I was led to believe was dead, is alive, and my parents, are book characters!"

I winced, "Sorry, I didn't mean to- wait, you weren't here for the explanation, how do you know they're book characters?"

Nilima huffed, "Well, my husband woke us up I the middle of the night insisting we pack our bags and leave India immediately. Then, about thirty minutes ago, a pulsing ball of light appeared and _voices_ came out of it, so we pretty much heard everything you said," suddenly her tone turned softer and she stopped glaring daggers at the only people in the room powerful enough to pull that stunt, namely, Anamika and Kishan, and turned to face me, "I'm pretty sure you guessed who my husband I are, but it is still polite to make introductions, this is my daughter, Ameria, my husband, Sunil, and I am Nilima, it's nice to meet you Anna."

I smiled, "Yes, I did guess who you are, although the book ends before Ameria is introduced. Now then," I raised my voice in the general direction of Kishan and Anamika who seemed to be speaking to each other in their heads, " if SOME people are done with the silent conversti-"

I was interrupted by Kishan's pained voice, " I thought we talked about the powers Mika, consult each other first, unless it's an emergency!"

Anamika wasn't about to take this lying down, "This _IS_ an emergency, and before you can start on your next point, yes! This classifies as a life or death situation!"

Kishan jumped to his feet, "No, it doesn't! Life or death means if you don't use some sort of ability, AT THAT MOMENT, people will die, not-"

But he was cut off by Ren, who noticed I had been trying to get everyone's attention, turned into a tiger and roared.

"Thank you Ren,"

He huffed in response, causing me to turn to Kelsey.

She laughed and translated, "You're welcome."

I grinned, "I see why you had to become 'an expert when it came to reading tiger expressions',"

Kelsey groaned, "I know! 24 minutes is next to nothing, 6 hours is very little, 12 hours still means your dealing with tigers, and even when you have 18 or 24 hours, you're still dealing with them!"

I laughed, "Back to the matter at hand, WHY, in the name of Mithros and the Great Mother Goddess, would this be a life or death situation?!"

Kishan turned to me confused, "Who?"

I waved it off, "They only exist in books, at least, I hope they do."

Anamika shook her head, all the mythologies are true,"

I sighed, "Of course they are, but that's not a mythology. They were created for a book series. But, LIFE OR DEATH?! Doncha think we're getting _just_ a bit off topic."

Kishan sighed, "Not something we can explain just yet."

Our conversation was cut short by a low grumble that made us all jump.

Sunil stated, "Um, sorry. That was my stomach."

Kelsey nodded, "Stuffed pasta shells with breadsticks anyone?"

I raised an eyebrow at her and she blushed, "Just a coincidence, I swear."

I rolled my eyes, "Sure Kelsey. No significance behind that particular meal."

Kelsey huffed, "If you're done teasing me, perhaps we could eat?"

Everyone had been following the conversation confusedly, except for Ren, who had been grinning, but seemed to decide it was time to rescue his wife. "I for one, am starved, I would like to enjoy some pasta."

I grinned, "Of course you would Ren."

Anik finally spoke up, "Am I missing something?"

I smiled, "First meal your mom ever made for your dad."

Kishan grinned, "Thank you for that wonderful piece of information Anna."

I turned on him, "Tease your brother about that and I swear, I'm going to tell everyone what was on that message I sent via scarf."

He paled but tried to cover it with bravado, "You wouldn't dare,"

I raised an eyebrow, "Try me."

He nodded, "I'll take your word for it."

Anamika turned to look at Kishan, "I'm very interested in what was in that message, care to share Kishan?"

He gave a nervous laugh, "Enough about me, I'm starved!" And turned to run out of the room.

Kelsey looked at me, "What on EARTH do you have over him?"

I gave a little smile, "I just put two and two together." I turned to look out the door which Kishan had fled through, "You'd think after living here, he'd know the dining room was the other way."

Everyone looked at each other, before we all began to laugh.

**A/N: Sorry, I know it's late, and short, but my computer glitched and it was a good place to end. I might not get one up for a while because we're doing testing at our school, just FYI.**


	5. Prophecy

**AN: Sorry, it took so long, I'm a horrible person and make no promises on updates.**

**Disclaimer: If I owned it, would I be on fanfic?**

We sat down for dinner and I smiled, "On with the story?" After receiving an affirmative, I continued. I told about Phet and the cave of Kanhari I opened the book and recited the first clue/prophecy that led Ren and Kelsey to Kishkinda, meeting Kishan, Kishkinda itself, and managed to skate over most of the emotional part by saying, "Well, Kelsey and Ren were hitting it off, when Kelsey decided it wouldn't work out, and began pushing Ren away. Then she used a rather stupid metaphor about a radish, and returned to Oregon, leaving Ren behind." I proceeded to tell about the next three books, and all the crazy adventures, worlds, creatures, and objects that went with the story. Kishan and Anamika backed me up withe the Golden Fruit, Divine Scarf, Pearl Necklace, Rope of Fire, and Amulet. When I finally finished, everyone had finished their meal and was staring in rapt attention, even the ones who'd lived it.

Anik whistled, "That has got to be the craziest story I have ever heard."

Kelsey nodded, it's one thing to have lived it, quite another to hear it,"

Ameria nodded, "Not to mention that really messed up love triangle."

I snorted, "Love triangle? Hmm, let's see, how many people were involved in that? Kelsey, Ren, Kishan, Anamika, Li, Jason, Artie, Wes, Randi, Lokesh, Nilima, Sunil, Yesubai. Anyone else?" No response. "Well," I said, "That would be fifteen people. That would not be a three person love triangle, but a fifteen person love whatever the name for a fifteen sided figure is."

Kishan winced, "Do we really need to drag Yesubai into this?"

Nilima made a noncommittal noise, "And how did Sunil and I get pulled into this?"

I sighed, "Yes, we do, and I'm afraid it's not my place to tell."

Nilima narrowed her eyes, "What do you mean?"

I shrugged, "Exactly what I said, it's not my place to tell."

Sunil frowned, then brightened, "Well whose place is it to tell then?"

"Hmm," I pondered that for a moment, "I'm afraid _that's_ not really my place to tell either,

Sunil groaned, "Of course it isn't."

I grinned and turned to Anamika and Kishan, "Now then, LIFE OR DEATH?!"

Ameria looked at me in amazement, "You just went from perfectly calm, to raged, and right back to a perfect lady?"

I smiled, "Never hurts to be a good actress."

Kishan winced, "Ah well, ok, well, this is complicated, Um, so after the whole Lokesh/Mahishaur problem we thought we, or at least you guys, not so much Anamika and I, were done with magic and, and prophecies and whatnot. Right?"

Kelsey narrowed her eyes, "Right."

Kishan was now squirming like our eyes were boring lasers into him, "Well, you see, the thing is, we, that is to say, the nine of us, well uh, I suppose I need to start at the beginning, Anamika and I were walking, and, or I suppose walking isn't really the right term, but we fou-"

He was interrupted by a hand being thrown over his mouth by Anamika, "There's been another prophecy."

TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD

Ren and Sunil stood up and spoke simultaneously, "I will not allow my wife and child to be caught up in this!"

Anamika sighed, "I understand, but while if they're involved in the quest, they _might_ be harmed, if they're not in the quest, they _will_ be harmed."

Sunil ground his teeth, "Is that so? Well, please enlighten us sister dear, how is that possible?"

Anamika sighed and recited from the kind of memory you get from sleepless nights spent agonizing over the problem:

_Tiger black and tiger white,  
>Once again they join the fight,<br>Goddess whom the world she taught  
>Goddess whom the demon fought<br>Brother of the goddess fair  
>His beautiful wife with long black hair<br>Son of white, with golden eyes  
>Daughter of brother, oh so wise<br>Stranger met within the mall  
>A young girl who knows all<br>Nine chosen by destiny  
>Save the world from tragedy<br>Things left untouched by history  
>Save those God-touched around the world<br>A wiry monk stories unfurled  
>Of quest and hardship on they go<br>To save gods and goddesses from woe_

After realizing we weren't planning on doing anything but gape, Kishan pulled out a small scroll that had the prophecy written on it.

Ameria looked and said within two seconds of seeing it, "Kishan, Ren, Anamika, Kelsey, Sunil, Nilima, Anik, Me, Anna. In that order." Then as more of an afterthought, "And Phet."

Kishan nodded to the scroll, "Save those God-touched around the world. Ren, Sunil, that means any "Chosen one of"s and anyone related to a god or goddess. That includes everyone in this room." He turned to me, "Everyone that is, except you. Look, I understand if you don't want to help, This isn't your fight." I stared at him, "Are you crazy? I mean sure it'll be dangerous, but I've been waiting for something like this to happen to me since I was like three!" Then I pulled a face, "Just so long as nobody writes a book about it," I paused, "You know, I think I can deal with it, s'long as it's not in my point of view."

Kelsey groaned and buried her hands in her face, "Seconded."

**AN- Sooo, whaja think?**

**Ps: Reviews make me happy, happy me writes more, writes more updates more.**

**Reviews= more updates**

**I know that's blackmail, but I like reviews too much to care**


	6. Girl-Talk

**Woohoo! Over 2,000 words!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tiger's Curse or any recognizable elements, etc.**

Ameria looked up, "Perhaps we should go to bed? It's been dark for about three hours now. I didn't want to say anything, but if we're all done talking?"

I looked at the clock and sure enough, it was eleven. I looked out the window, "Wow," I breathed, "the stars are so pretty."

Kelsey smiled and walked over to the window, "Aren't they? The second I saw the stars, I knew I loved this house. Thanks to the long driveway, we're practically in the countryside, and there's less pollution, making the night that much clearer,"

We all paused, staring out the window, before Ren broke us out of our reverie, "We should probably get everyone settled."

Kelsey looked up, obviously startled, "Oh! Yes," she paused, "we only have one available guest room,"

Kishan smiled, "Not a problem, 'Mika and I are going to head home, we need to get a few things sorted out. We'll be back at noon tomorrow." He pulled at a rope and held it out. He frowned, before smacking his palm to his forehead, "Right, don't have the amulet." He turned to Kelsey, "Would you mind Kells?"

She smiled, "Not at all," before taking the rope. It shot into flames almost as high as the ceiling before settling back to small flickering flames, "Apparently, I need to work on control." She fingered the amulet at her neck, "I haven't used this in forever."

Anamika smiled, "You are not out of practice, having the whole amulet magnifies the power. We will see what we can do about that. Thank you Little Sister," she whipped the rope in a circle, opening a vortex, then, she and Kishan stepped through, and it closed behind them.

Kelsey turned to look at us, "Well that simplifies things, but I'm afraid that we may be a bit cramped,"

I stopped gaping at the place where Kishan and Anamika had disappeared and turned to Kelsey, "I can head back to my apartment,"

Kelsey shook her head, "Nonsense, you're our guest. Besides, what with this new prophecy who knows if we'll be able to actually leave at noon."

Ren placed a hand on Kelsey's shoulder, "Yes, plans have a tendency to go awry when you throw in a supernatural element. Plus, you'll be safer with a tiger here,"

Anik thought before speaking, "The girls can take my room. I'll just pull out the couch,"

Kelsey turned to her son, "Are you sure?

He nodded, "Absolutely,"

Kelsey smiled, "There, that makes it easy. Sunil, Nilima, you two can have the guest room. Anna, Ameria, do you mind sharing?"

Ameria shook her head.

"Not at all," I responded.

"Perfect," Kelsey turned to Anik, "Why don't you show the girls to your room? Oh, and you can use the scarf to make pajamas, Kishan and Anamika seem to have left Durga's gifts here."

Ren raised his eyebrows, "All of them?"

Kelsey nodded, "Everything but the rope,"

Ren shook his head, "The scarf, the necklace, the amulet, and the fruit?"

A nod was his only answer.

He shook his head, "Well, I'll put the scarf here and everyone can come get pajamas when they're ready,"

Anik nodded, "I'll show you guys to my room,"

And with that, Ameria and I got up and followed him through the house, I marveled at all the rooms as we walked though the house, each one had a different color scheme, and no design was ever repeated twice. Somehow, as we walked from room to room, the designs and colors in the different rooms never clashed the way they should. Suddenly, I realized just how many rooms we had walked through, "Hey, Anik?"

"Yeah?"

"Have your parents done any expansion on this house?"

"Yeah, they about doubled the size when they found out I was going to be born. Why do you ask?"

"Because the book doesn't describe the house as this big,"

Ameria whirled to face Anik, "Wait a minute! Why did your mom say you only have one guest bedroom? You have three! Anik. Kishan. Rajaram. Explain. Now."

I started when I heard Anik's full name. To be honest, I had kinda forgotten that these were children of book characters with me. Shoot, I had imagined meeting these people so often that I almost didn't remember that everyone was actually there. I shoved my panic to the side. I could deal with it later. I looked up to see Anik wincing away from Ameria who had her hands on her hips. If Anik hadn't looked so scared, it would have been hilarious. She was a head-and-a-half shorter than him!

"Well, we only have one guest room available. The other two are being painted right now…"

Ameria nodded, satisfied.

Anik cleared his throat, "Perhaps we could keep going?"

I nodded, "Sure,"

He shot me a grateful look before continuing down the hallway. About midway through, he stopped and opened a door to his left. It was decorated in deep jewel tones. It had a large bed, a couple armchairs, a door to what I assumed was the closet, and another one leading to the bathroom.

Anik grinned at us and preformed a large, overdone, and rather inelegant bow, "Here you are, my humble abode!"

I smiled and curtsied, "Why, thank you kind sir!"

Ameria smiled, "Thanks Anik,"

He bowed once again, this time catching Ameria's hand and bowing over it, "Of course my ladies,"

"Oi!" Ameria pulled her hand out of Anik's grasp and smacked him over the head, "How is it that you are five years older than me, and I am five times as mature?"

I sighed and threw an arm around her shoulders, "That, Ameria, is one question girls have been asking about guys for generations,"

"Hey!" Anik stuck his nose in the air, "I'll have you know that I am a mature and sophisticated person,"

Ameria rolled her eyes, "Sure Anik. Of course you are."

We all laughed, grateful to get away from the gloom and doom of prophecies content just to be carefree and silly for one last day.

TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD

I sighed and collapsed on the bed, in new pajamas. They seemed to be made of cotton, but they were the most comfortable I had ever worn. The Divine Scarf was awesome. I sat up and began to brush my hair. I could hear Ameria in the shower we had agreed to switch use of the bathroom. I turned found that my hair had left a large wet spot on the pillow. Well, I knew what side of the bed I'd be sleeping on unless, of course, Ameria wanted to sleep on a big wet spot. She walked out of the bathroom in light blue pajamas and collapsed in the exact same spot I had. I raised my eyebrow at her, "You realize your hair is still wet, right?"

"Yes,"

"Okay,"

She sighed and sat up, "Hand me that hairbrush,"

I nodded and handed her the hairbrush sitting on the dresser before continuing to work through my own tangled knot. I yanked my brush through one last stubborn tangle before setting it down, "How are you still sane?"

She looked up at me, "What do you mean?"

I gestured around the room, "Just, all of this! I mean, everything!"

She looked at me, "I could ask you the same thing,"

I nodded, "Tell you what, you explain, then I'll explain,"

She thought for a moment before answering, "Well, I suppose it's because I've always been a logical person. My family is still the same family I know. The difference is me, therefore; if I don't freak out, there's no cause to do so. It's like, the first time you read. You pick up a book, and it has new meaning. The book is the same, whether you can read or not. You're the one that's seeing it differently,"

"I, that actually makes a lot of sense."

Ameria nodded, "Well, what about you?"

I sighed, "To be entirely honest, I'm half convinced I'm dreaming. In fact, if you weren't here, I would be positive,"

She frowned, "What about me makes you positive it's not a dream?"

"Well, the books are set before you and Anik are born, but while in the grove of dreams, Kishan has a vision of Kelsey holding a baby boy who she names "Anik Kishan Rajaram" so he is mentioned. Not for more than a couple pages, and it comes up again later, even though it's not really about him per say, more about the idea of there being a baby. Kelsey spent a lot of time agonizing over who she was in love with and everything so she spent a lot of time wondering about the baby. Kishan never told her he saw the baby's eyes. He wanted it to be her choice, even though he knew if she was told the baby had golden eyes, she would choose him. He did tell Ren though,"

Ameria blinked, "I never knew what my family went through,"

I nodded, "It's pretty crazy isn't it? But enough about that! Tell me about yourself. What are you're friends like? Are any of them super-girly?"

She paused, "You know, I never really had that many friends. My two close friends are both guys. We've known each other forever,"

I grinned, "Ok, so not super-girly… Wait. Does that mean you've never had girl-talks? You know, chatting maybe a bit of gossip and whatever?"

"Nope"

I shook my head, "That ends now. I hope the fruit works up here. Yay!" I squealed as a plate of chocolate appeared, "Sit down! Have some chocolate!"

Ameria smiled, "I don't have a choice do I?"

"Nope!"

She laughed, "Alright then,"

TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD

Thirty minutes later we had eaten all the chocolate and were halfway through another plate. I had learned that we were both avid readers, that she was an only child, but Anik was like her brother, that she was going to turn sixteen in January, that Anik was five years older than her, and that she was probably going to take over Rajaram industries even though Ren was the head because "Anik had no common sense". I had told her that I had just turned twenty, was majoring in computer science, that I had a ten year old sister that me and my entire family spoiled, and that Kelsey would kill me if I lent her the Tiger's Curse books. I had also explained exactly how I had gotten pulled into the whole mess, meeting Anik at the mall, knowing his name, meeting Ren ana Kelsey, that little story.

"So, Ameria, do you have a crush on anyone?" I teased.

She gave a nervous grin, "Well, I told you about my friends, right? James is the taller one, black hair, brown eyes, and he's really cute! He doesn't see me as anyone but a friend though. What about you?"

"No. A bunch of the guys I know are jerks, and there's some really nice guys that are kinda cute, but I just don't like any of them. I mean I like them, but I don't _like them_ like them."

She nodded, "I know what you mean. I think Anik likes you though,"

"What?"

"I don't think he knows, he's pretty clueless about that sort of stuff, but he wouldn't have introduced himself to you like that if he didn't,"

"Na, he probably just recognized me from WOU, like he said,"

Ameria gave a little smile and sing-songed, "If you say so!"

"Go to sleep!"

She laughed, "'Night Anna,"

"Goodnight Ameria,"

**Ok, sorry it took a while for me to update. :( I've been kind of busy. To make up for it, this one is really long. (Over 2,000 words without the Author's Notes or Disclaimer! Yay!)**

**Also, _please please please_ review. Even if it's just one word, or if you have a suggestion or anything! I live off of reviews. _PPPPPlllleeeeeaaaaassssseeeee!_  
><strong>


	7. Going to India

**Well, here you are! Over 2,000 words! Woohoo!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tiger's Curse**

I woke up the next morning to the sun shining right in my eyes. I groaned and flipped over, smelling, that was weird, morning mist and sandalwood? I opened my eyes to see a room that definitely wasn't mine. Suddenly, it all rushed back to me. I sat bolt upright. "It wasn't a dream. It wasn't a dream. I'm really, it, I, wow!"

Next to me, Ameria groaned, "What on Earth are you doing awake and happy, of all things, at this thrice-cursed, godforsaken hour of the morning?"

"Not a morning person, huh?"

She yawned, "I'm usually not that bad, but we just flew in from India, so the time change is throwing me off,"

I nodded, "Aren't you excited though?"

She sat up, clearly not awake yet, "Why should I be?"

I rolled my eyes, "Where are you?"

"My cousin's house,"

"Who am I?"

"Anna,"

"How did we meet?"

"We were talking about the prophecy... Wait a minute!" Her eyes opened in shock, "The prophecy!"

"Yes!"

She laughed, "I can't believe I forgot about that!"

I smiled, "I did too, for a moment,"

She grinned, "You want to see someone who's not a morning person, try Anik. I swear, if it's before nine, he's dead to the world. One time, when I was seven and he was twelve, I went to wake him up, and, understand, I've always loved reading on obscure subjects, and I had just started a book on people in comas, and I couldn't wake him up…"

I blinked, "You're serious?"

She nodded, "Dead."

I couldn't help it, I started laughing.

My laughter started her off in a fit of giggles, "And then, I screamed, loud enough, to wake, the dead, but, he still, just kept, snoring!"

We both collapsed into laughter. When one of us finally managed to calm down, we'd only have to look at the other to begin giggling like crazy all over again.

When we finally calmed down, Ameria smiled, "We'd better go get some clothes, I don't know about you, but I'd prefer not to have to walk around in pajamas all day long."

I grinned and we walked down to the kitchen to look for the Divine Scarf, in order to make outfits, when we found Anik stumbling along blindly.

Ameria gasped, "Anik! You're awake at 9:30! Has the sky fallen? Should I be searching for flying pigs?"

I grinned, "Perhaps the Devil should be be checking for ice in hell."

He squinted, "Ha, ha. Laugh it up you two. You try to sleep when a tiger roars in your ear,"

I frowned, "Uh, Anik, I think we would have heard that,"

He shook his head, "Dream,"

"So, you dreamed a tiger roared in your ear, and woke up?"

He nodded, "An orange one, with gold eyes,"

Ameria blinked, "Okaaaay. Well. Anna and I were gonna go borrow the Divine Scarf to put on some clothes,"

He nodded and yawned, "It's on the kitchen table. I'm gonna go take a shower,"

Ameria and I smiled and waved him on, and went to the kitchen. I asked for a white layered mini-skirt and a pink tank top. Ameria was a bit more sensible, and asked for a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt. She smiled, "I like your outfit,"

I grinned, "Usually, I'd be in something I bit more like what you're wearing, but I kinda felt like wearing this,"

Because the scarf took a moment to knit the clothes, Anik came out only two minutes after we were dressed. Ameria and I had been chatting in the den, Ameria curled up like a cat in "her" armchair and I sitting in the corner of the couch, when Anik came into the room, in jeans and a tee, hair still wet from his shower. He ambled over to the couch I was sitting on and collapsed so that his head was on my lap.

"Uh, Anik?"

"Yeah?"

"Why is your head on my lap?"

"Because I wanted to lie down, and you were sitting on the couch,"

"You act as though this is a perfectly normal thing to do,"

"Isn't it?"

"Oh, that's so funny I forgot to laugh,"

"I do try,"

"Honestly though, you're getting me wet,"

"Sorry bout that,"

Pause

"By staying there you are continuing to get me wet,"

"Shame,"

"Anik, would you please get off my lap?"

"Nope!"

I glared.

He shot a cheeky grin back.

I turned to Ameria, "Hey Ameria?"

"Yes?"

"I've tried hinting, insinuating, asking politely and glaring. Insults or threats now?"

"Threats,"

"Level?"

"Five,"

"You want me to skip all the way to death threats?"

"Fair point. Try level three."

"Sweet smile or death glare?"

"Depends on the threat,"

Anik, who had been listening to our whole conversation, looked between the two of us, "You guys are incredibly creepy as you discuss threatening me as if remarking on the weather,"

I raised an eyebrow, "Sweet smile?"

"Definitely."

I gave the perfect doe-eyed innocent smile at the head resting in my lap, "Anik, if you don't get off my lap right now, I'll tie you up with the divine scarf and then use the golden fruit to dunk you in a bathtub's worth of scalding hot coffee,"

He gulped and hopped up, "Okay then, um, let's go get breakfast shall we?"

Ameria smiled, "Let's."

TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD

I sat back after my third crêpe, "I love the Golden Fruit,"

Ameria nodded, "I am never gonna want to eat regular food again,"

Just then Kelsey and Nilima walked into the room, "Has anyone seen Ren? Or Sunil?"

Anik shook his head, "Sorry Mom,"

Ameria bit her lip, "If I had to guess, I'd say they're training in the basement, you know how my dad gets. And Uncle Ren is worse. Hearing that their family is involved in another, whatever you want to call these, is going to make them a bit stressed, and they'll want to train and train and train,"

Right when she finished talking, Sunil walked into the room. Right behind him, Ren had a big gash on his arm.

I gripped the necklace and scarf and wished for a large bowl of hot water and some rags and bandages.

Kelsey gasped, "Alagan Dhiren Rajaram! What on Earth happened to you!"

The water appeared instantly, but the rags and and bandages were taking a moment to form.

He gave a sheepish smile, "Hey Kells,"

The bandages were done, but the rags were still forming.

"Don't you 'Hey Kells" me! Ren, what were you thinking?

The rags were done. "Uh Ren? While you're explaining that, could I clean your arm up?" I gestured to the water, rags, and bandages. "Whether you can heal again or not, you should probably get the blood off,"

He nodded and held out his arm to me, "Thanks Anna,"

I nodded, "No problem," as I began to clean the blood off with a wet rag.

Kelsey glared, "Ren. Explanation. Now."

I had cleaned about half of the blood at this point, all I was doing was wiping it off. I wasn't sure, but the wound seemed to be healing.

He gave a sheepish smile, "I threw the knife, changed into tiger form and ran, changed back into human form, and caught the knife. I did it fine three times, but I miscalculated the fourth,"

That settled it. The wound was healing itself. I was about to ask the scarf to reabsorb the bandages, when I realized that it would probably be more useful to have ready-made bandages than to have to wait for them to form like I had just now.

"You were practicing with sharpened knives?!"

Instead I asked the scarf and necklace to dispose of the water and now bloody rags. They gifts shimmered and objects disappeared.

"Yes I was practicing with sharpened knives. Good thing too. If I had been sliced by a dull knife it would have been worse,"

I had folded the bandages that were already made and was in the process of folding the continuous stream of bandages I had asked the scarf to produce. Every few moments, the stream would pause to let the bandage finish itself before starting a new one.

"I didn't mean you should practice with dull knives,"

Anik and Ameria noticed what I was doing. Ameria soon had the scarf spewing bandages out of both ends and folded the ones coming out of the end of the scarf nearer to her. Anik fetched a mortar and pestle and some jars and began wishing up different combinations of herbs and water. He ground them into paste before putting the mixtures into the jars.

"So I should practice with sharp knives,"

Now that Ameria was folding bandages, I switched to long strips of gauze. I began to roll it as the scarf produced it.

"No you shouldn't practice with sharp knives either,"

Sunil tired of watching Ren and Kelsey's argument and whispered something in Nilima's ear. She nodded and they walked out of the room.

"Well what should I practice with then?"

Anik looked at the containers, frowned, and left the room. Ameria and I just kept folding bandages and creating rolls of gauze.

"Something without a sharp edge!"

Anik came back with labels and sharpies. He began labeling the the different mixtures.

"And do you want me to use things without sharp edges in battle and on this quest too?"

Ameria counted the bandages, mouthed 'I'll be right back', and left the room.

"No, use real knives then. But this isn't a battle Ren and I'm not sure if you noticed, but we're still in our house!"

Ameria came back with two large plastic boxes that had grooves in the sides and a small stack of plastic panels.

"I know it isn't but the balance is thrown off if you switch between real and fake weapons,"

Ameria began fitting the panels into the grooves, effectively dividing the boxes into compartments.

"Well find something with a realistic balance then!"

I caught on to what she was doing and divided both the gauze and bandages into two equal piles.

"Kelsey, it's simpler to practice with a real knife,"

Ameria and I began to put the different items into the different compartments while Anik began to place the jars inside.

"It's more dangerous to practice with a real knife!"

"Kelsey, I can heal again. I'll be fine,"

"Healing or not, there are some things you can't recover fr-"

Kelsey was cut off when I closed the first box with an audible 'click' and began to work on filling the second.

Ren blinked, "What are you all doing?"

I looked up, "While you and Kelsey were arguing over the merits of real knives verses substitutes of some sort, Anik, Ameri, and I made to first aid kits, complete with bandages, gauze, and a variety of herbal remedies,"

Both seemed a bit shell-shocked. Kelsey furrowed her eyebrows, "Where did you get that?"

Anik looked up, "The fruit and scarf,"

I nodded, "Even though they can make theses things, it takes a moment to ready them. Or what if we get separated into two groups? It's better to have some ready to access than have to wait until we get a chance to get together again,"

Kelsey furrowed her brow, "But where did you get the jars. And the mortar and pestle. And the sharpies, or boxes?"

"Anik got the sharpies, labels, mortar, pestle, and jars. Ameria got the boxes,"

Ren frowned, "I have tiger hearing, why didn't I hear you?"

"Probably because you were arguing,"

Ren shook his head, "Bah. I need to go train more,"

He shifted into a tiger at the same moment Anik closed the second box. He began to trot off as Kelsey chased after him saying that he better not be going to train again or she'd make what the gäe bolga did to him look like a paper cut. Before he could, a portal opened and Anamika and Kishan stepped out.

Anamika looked at us, "Pack your stuff. We're going to India,"

**What did you think? The bunny wants you to review! You won't say no to a bunny, will you?**


	8. Meaning of the Prophecy

**AN: I'm so, so sorry that I haven't updated in forever. I have a ton of excuses, but instead of boring you with them, I'll just say, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tiger's Curse**

We all sort of blinked, I mean, it's not really something you hear on a day to day basis.

I figured if we were just going to stand here, we all might as well stand here, "Sunil? Nilima? They're back!"

TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD

One hour of yelling, searching, and packing later, we were all on a flight to India, where we would be able to meet up with Phet and, hopefully, have a few more things explained. Ameria, Anik and I were playing Go Fish as we chatted about this and that.

"So Anik," I asked "How does it feel to know your dad is royalty? Go fish by the way,"

He sighed, "Not again. It's a bit surreal to be honest, not really something you ever expect to hear. Your turn 'Ria,"

She sighed, "I know what you mean. The royalty is a bit easier to accept than the deities though. Fives?"

"Go Fish,"

"Go Fish,"

She pulled a card out of the pond, "Of course neither of you have one. Anna?"

"Personally, I think the strangest part is that there's a prophecy about us. Kings?"

Anik handed me the correct card.

"And that's a match! I win again!"

Ameria groaned, "That's five times in a row!"

Anik glared playfully at me, "I swear you have that deck rigged,"

I giggled, "Nope! You two just stink at card games,"

Kelsey came over, "Sorry to interrupt, but we're going to have lunch now,"

I pretended to nod sagely, "And so continues the ride to destiny. A journey all must complete,"

Anik and Ameria looked at me, and burst out laughing.

TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD

We had just finished a delicious lunch of honey glazed salmon with rice and a small salad, and a delicious creme brûlée, when two things I had been having a hard time remembering to ask about suddenly popped into my head. I must have given a funny jerk or something of the sort, because Kelsey turned to look at me, concerned, "Are you alright Anna?"

I nodded, "I just remembered some things I'd been meaning to ask. One, Ameria, when you listed the people named by the prophecy, why did you list everyone by name, including your parents? And two, where exactly did you find this prophecy?"

Ameria frowned, "I don't know, it was reflexive, almost, like it wasn't me talking, I mean, it was me, but it wasn't me,"

I bit my lip worriedly, "I was afraid something like that might be it,"

Kishan's eyes snapped sharply to mine, "Why would you think it would be something like that?"

I thought for a moment, and when I finally spoke, it was slow and halting, almost as though I couldn't find the words I was looking for, "It was, too sudden, too, out of place. The prophecy was, enough of a shock, that the rest of us weren't speaking. Unless you count yourself and Anamika, and you had already had time to, process, the… problematic consequences. Ren, Kelsey, Sunil, and Nilima didn't say a word and, not only have they, experienced, this sort of, quest before, they wouldn't be shocked by the contents of the previous one. Anik, 'Ria and I had each had our own, unique set of shocks. I found out that these books were real, and while the series was something I knew front, back, and upside-down, the reality of the fact was something else entirely. And the two of them were the only ones among the nine of us who had no idea about any of this. I didn't know it was real, but they didn't know about any of it. 'Ria is a very smart person, but adding another revelation on top of what she had already learned? The human mind has limits, large shocks cause it to process information at a lower speed. 'Ria said something almost immediately after seeing the scroll. I'm a pretty fast reader and I had just finished reading it when she spoke. I was a far cry from listing everyone said in the correct order. It wasn't logical for her to have processed everything so quickly. I probably wouldn't even have noticed but whatever spoke through her slipped up. They didn't say 'Mom' or 'Dad' and they didn't refer to Kelsey and Ren as 'Aunt' and 'Uncle' the way 'Ria does,"

Anik blinked slowly, "And how exactly, did you manage to put all that together? I mean, it's logical, but, I wouldn't think to make half those connections!"

Kelsey shook her head, "More to the point, who is they?"

I bit my lip again, "That's what worries me,"

Ren sighed, "One more thing to ask Phet,"

I nodded, "But what about the prophecy itself? Where did you find it?"

Anamika and Kishan glanced at each other uneasily before Anamika spoke, "The Hall,"

Nilima blinked, "The hall?"

Kishan shook his head, "Not the hall. The Hall. The Hall of Prophecy,"

Sunil looked up, "The what?"

Anamika shook her head, "That's all we will say. That's all we can say,"

"Alright," Kelsey sighed, "Can we see it again?"

Ameria unravelled the scroll and laid it on the table, the slight yellowish color of the parchment contrasting sharply against the crisp blue ink. We read it through once more. "Does the prophecy even tell us anything?" Anik asked, frustratedly, "It lists who needs to go and then gives some vague nonsense about saving the world. Nothing that's actually useful,"

I caught myself biting my lip once more and released it from my teeth, it was a habit I needed to work on breaking, "It might not be the most useful information," I mused, "But it might tell us more than you think,"

Anik shook his head, "What does it tell us? There's nothing in it,"

I paused, "Maybe not if you look at it as a whole, but if you go through it piece by piece, it has information, very, very, vague information, but information all the same,"

Sunil frowned, " What do you mean?"

I sighed, "Let's go through this line by line, 'Tiger black and tiger white' that's telling us that Ren and Kishan are two of the nine, but that's pretty much it, right?"

"Well, yeah,"

I shook my head, "Not quite. It could have referred to them in a few different ways. Ren could have been, crown prince, or, the one who lived for 300 years, and Kishan could have been, referred to as a prince, or a god, or-" I paused, "Kishan, how long have you been alive?"

He thought for a moment, "Well, I was about 20 before the curse, plus the original 300 years, then we went back in time to around 320 BC and I lived forward from there, if it's now 2014, I've been alive for about 2,650 and some-odd years, give or take a few decades,"

I blinked, "Right. Anyway, my point is, all of those are distinctive qualities, but the prophecy chose to refer to them as tigers, after Ren no longer had the ability to become a tiger. Yes, Kishan gave it back to him, but Kishan, in all honesty, if the prophecy hadn't called him 'tiger white' would you have done that?"

His brow furrowed, "No. I don't think I would have,"

I nodded, "That's already one thing the prophecy told us. The next line, 'Once again they join the fight' could just be a way to rhyme with white, it could just mean that there is a prophecy, but I don't think so, it wouldn't say it so definitively. So, there's a fight. A fight with potentially catastrophic consequences if the later lines are anything to go off of. Now whether it's a fight against someone or against something, that's another matter entirely. The next line, 'Goddess whom the world she taught' I think really does just refer to Anamika, unless at some point Anamika needs to use a relation she's cultivated with a monk, a devoted worshipper, or some other person. I say that because it seems to put emphasis on the fact that she went all over the world. The line referring to Kelsey, 'Goddess whom the demon fought'," I sighed, "I'm just not sure about that one. It puts emphasis on the fact that she fought Lokesh/Mahishasur, but, he's gone, isn't he? It might mean that she'll need to fight again, but I really just think it was only a distinction to make. Sunil's line, 'Brother of the goddess fair', only refers to him, along with Nilima's, 'His beautiful wife with long black hair'. 'Son of white, with golden eyes' obviously refers to Anik. Seeing as it's a physical description, I don't think it could mean anything, unless, well, Anamika, Kishan, could the fact that Ren is Anik's father have caused a dormant tiger ability?"

Anamika blinked, "What do you mean?"

I explained what I meant to the best of my ability, "That was one of your concerns about the curse, wasn't it? That it might be, passed on, if it wasn't broken, I mean. It states, 'son of white', is it just a way to say that, yeah, it's definitely Anik, or does it maybe mean that somehow, could a, I mean, ugh! Kishan, when you gave up an incarnation so that Ren could have the Tiger ability again, could you have done that for anyone?"

He shook his head, "No, it was only because of the ritual that Lokesh attempted the first time, and the fact that we were both wearing pieces of my amulet, that I was able to alter the ritual to give us tiger powers in the first place, and that original… curse, I suppose, is what allowed me to reawaken the Tiger in Ren. Why do you ask?"

"I'm asking because I wonder if perhaps the 'tiger gene' was passed on to Anik after all, just in a dormant state?"

Kishan frowned, "Do you think?"

Anamika tilted her head to the side, "It's a distinct possibility. I can't know for sure though. We could test it, but if something went wrong, let's just say no one would like the consequences,"

Kishan nodded, "It would be safer to ask Phet first,"

Kelsey shook her head, "This list of things just keeps getting longer and longer,"

Ameria paused, "How do we know Phet will be there?"

Ren looked up sharply, "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Ameria hedged, "from what I understood, Phet does universally important things across the entire time stream. How do we know that he will be in his little tiny house in the middle of the Indian Jungle and not somewhere, or even somewhen entirely different?"

Anamika blinked, "I actually never thought of that. I have no idea,"

"Which," I stated, "brings us smoothly into our next prophetic clue,"

"How so?"

"The next line is 'Daughter of brother, oh so wise'. Ameria's only fifteen years old. In most cases, this doesn't lend itself to wisdom. I'm not saying at all that she's unintelligent, but teenage years usually aren't the most logical years of a person's life. Something I can attest to. But, not only did whoever "they" is choose to speak through Ameria, she's noticing things we completely overlook. I think, and this is all speculation, mind you, that 'Ria could end up finding a lot of little connections like that. The next line, 'Stranger met within the mall' refers to me,

I think it's just a way of differentiating me from pretty much every person you've ever met. Then the line, 'A young girl who knows all' I think it might mean that I had read the books, because I knew everything that had happened on previous quests. Now," I said, "we get down to the real useful stuff. 'Nine chosen by destiny' is this line here. I, quite honestly, have no idea what it means,"

Kishan nodded, "You wouldn't. It's one of those deity's only sort of things. Don't worry about it,"

Nilima shrugged, "If you're sure,"

Anamika nodded, "Positive,"

Sunil gestured to the scroll, "What about the next line?"

I sighed, "The thing about these end lines is that they're both the most potentially useful, and the vaguest. Take this next line for instance: 'Save the world from tragedy' shows that whatever we're doing has a worldwide effect, but what sort of tragedy effects the whole world and can be stopped by nine people?"

"Mmhmm, that would be another thing we should probably ask Phet,"

I sighed, "As is everything else. Anyway, the next line, 'Things left untouched by history' if I'm right, refers to the fact that historians don't, well, it's Mythology!"

"And that," Anik said, "is the incorrect way to sum things up,"

I glared, "Oh, you're too kind,"

He smiled back at me, "I try,"

"Anywho, y'all understand what I'm saying. The next line, I think, tells us about the impact of failure. 'Save those God-touched around the world'. Either that or whoever wrote this was smart enough to know that Ren and Sunil would point-blank refuse without it,"

"We would not!"

"Of course we wouldn't!"

"Oh really Ren?" Kelsey asked, "Is that so?"

He nodded, "Yes, it is,"

"Mmmm, because I distinctly remember you saying something along the lines of, 'I will not let my wife and child', almost as though you had some sort of authority over me. Isn't that funny?"

"Uh, well I, you see,"

Sunil and Kishan were quietly snickering before Nilima rounded on Sunil, "Oh, don't think you're off the hook either mister! I heard you say the exact same thing!"

At this point Kishan couldn't take it anymore and started guffawing.

I raised my eyebrow, "As entertaining as all of this is, could we move on?"

"Of course,"

"The line, 'A wiry monk stories unfurled' is, I think, quite obviously telling us to got to Phet for guidance. The line, 'Of quest and hardship on they go' is another, potentially very useful, very very vague line. All I can get put of it that this isn't going to be easy. The final line however, is the one that scares me. 'To save gods and goddesses from woe'"

Ren blinked, "Why would that scare you?"

I looked up slowly, "What sort of thing can't be beaten by gods and goddesses?"

**What did you think? Review please!**


	9. Meeting Phet

**I'm story it's been so long since I've updated. I do have a few excuses, but I'd rather not go into detail. Let's just say school, visiting family, and runaway plot-bunnies and leave it at that. Please? Oh, and I had writer's block on my other story. I don't work on the next chapter of this before updating that and vice-versa. That being said, over 4,000 words! Yay! I'm hoping the extra long chapter might help make up for the several month wait...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tiger's Curse or any related characters, places, etc.**

I tripped and fell on a root, only for Anik to catch me. I huffed in annoyance, it was the third time he had had to catch me, before I thanked him, and we kept walking. We were on our way to Phet's house, walking in a bit of a line. Kishan was in the front as a tiger, Anamika beside him, then Kelsey and Nilima were chatting. Behind the two of them, Anik, Ameria, and I were walking in a group, while Sunil and Ren brought up the rear in order to watch for dangers. As we hiked through the Indian jungle, I began to realize why, exactly, Kelsey complained so often in the books. Apparently I wasn't the only one who felt this way, because Ameria asked, "How much farther do we need to go, exactly?"

"However far it is," Nilima huffed over her shoulder, "It can't be close enough,"

Kelsey couldn't help but laugh through her exhaustion, "Finally! I'm not the only one who doesn't have super-special tiger endurance! At least now I know it was the tiger endurance and not just that I was out of shape,"

Anamika chuckled from the front, "It's not that bad,"

"Well sure," Kelsey huffed, "you're a goddess,"

"Um..." Sunil called forward, "I don't have tiger powers or the advantage of deity-dom, but I'm not tired,"

"Dad, you're a warrior from ancient India," Ameria countered, "I'm pretty sure that it gives you a bit of an advantage,"

Anik grinned, "What about me?"

I snorted, "You're puffing just as much as the rest of us. Your pride just won't let you admit it."

"Am not!" He exclaimed!

I laughed and shoved his shoulder, "I've been listening to your wheezing practically the entire hike!"

"I have not been wheezing!" he pouted.

"Hate to break it to you Cuz," Ameria chimed in, "but you kind of are,"

"Am not!" he exclaimed once more before he ruined his entire argument by wheezing, "Well," he grinned sheepishly, "maybe just a little,"

I heard a yelp from ahead me and looked up to find Kelsey staring at her hand in disgust. "Not again!"

Ren moved from his position at the back to up by his wife in seconds, "Iadala! What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"No," she clipped out her words while still glaring at her hand, "I leaned on one of those rubber trees again,"

Ren blinked, confused, "Rubber trees?"

She nodded and started picking at her fingers, "I'm pretty sure Phet said they were frankincense trees,"

She glared at her hand again before shouting, "Oh duh!" She raised her other hand and summoned a bit of water out of the humid air around us. The water formed a globe-like shape above her hand. She concentrated, and heated the water-ball until it started steaming. She then let go of the powers she was channeling and allowed the heated water to gush over her fingers. She sighed with happiness, "I'm so glad we have this amulet,"

Ren chuckled, and was about to return to the back of the group when Kishan switched back to human form, "We're here,"

TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD-TC-TQ-TV-TD

As we walked up to the old hut, the order of our group shifted around a bit. No longer concerned with dangers, Sunil shifted up to stand by his wife and Ren moved to stand with his brother while Kelsey and Anamika quickened their pace so they were in the front, leaving Anik, Ria, and I to bring up the rear. The door of the hut swung open and what looked to be a doddering old man tottered out, though we all knew better. Phet was one of the most powerful beings in the universe, "Ah! There you are! It has been too long since Phet has seen you!"

Kelsey and Anamika both burst into grins and ran up to embrace the old man with cries of "Phet!" and "Teacher!" respectively.

"Why, Anamika, Kahl-see! How you have grown since Phet last saw you!"

The two detangled themselves from Phet, and he addressed Anamika, giving a little half-bow, "It is good to see you again," She laughed, "Teacher, I am Anamika, not Durga now," He smiled at her, "You have learned all I have to teach you, and learned more still. As goddess, or as the young girl to whom I taught a strange language, it is my turn to bow to you,"

Anamika looked to be on the verge of tears of joy, but managed to choke out a small, "Thank you,"

Phet smiled at her and turned to Kelsey, "Kahl-see, it was a hard road to love you walked, but I think it was more than worth it in the end, yes?"

She smiled at him, and parroted his words, "More than worth it in the end,"

He smiled at the two girls and patted their shoulders, then he walked over to the two brothers, "So," he mused, "The tigers run again," He turned to Ren, "It must be strange, to carry the weight of the tiger again,"

Ren nodded, "It is, but if it means my family will be safe it is worth it,"

Phet nodded thoughtfully, "There is danger in the tiger, it is true, but majesty also. Remember that. Also, do not fear so much for your family, they are capable in their own right,"

At Ren's nod, he turned to Kishan, "Ah, the younger prince, you lie in your brother's shadow no more, yes?"

Kishan chuckled, "You say that every time I see you Phet,"

Phet nodded, "And every time it becomes more true, you would do well to remember that, yes?"

Kishan laughed and nodded, "Of course,"

Phet studied the two, before nodding, apparently satisfied, and walking over to where Sunil and Nilima stood.

He turned to Sunil first, "You have not come so far as your sister, perhaps, but I do believe it makes you all the stronger," He nodded his head to Sunil, different than the half-bow he had given Anamika, but it choked Sunil up all the same. Phet smiled at Sunil once more, "You've lived a long-suffering life, and your trials may not be over yet, but remember that the benefits and hopes always out-way the risks and doubts, my friend,"

Sunil nodded, and blinked his watering eyes, "Of course, Teacher,"

Phet turned to Nilima thoughtfully, "You have less experience with things such as these, but enough that you could be thrown in the deep end and swim to shore. I fear you may be forced to do that,"

Nilima smiled at him, "I will do what it takes to help where I can,"

Phet nodded distantly, "Yes, your kindness makes you strong indeed, but," he smiled mischievously, "Don't be afraid to allow your temper to shine through, especially when it comes to overprotective husbands, yes?"

Nilima laughed and I was startled at the similarities between hers and her daughter's, they both had almost bell-like tones underneath them, "No need to worry about that one Phet, Sunil knows better than to 'protect' me," she turned to her husband and gave a wicked smile, "Don't you?"

Sunil laughed nervously, "Yup,"

Phet chuckled and smiled at Sunil, "I seem to remember a conversation with a young boy about girls and how he would never-"

He cut himself off, laughing, when he saw Sunil's wince. Still chuckling, he made his way to where the three of us stood, and the laughter melted from his face to be replaced with concern, "You three have the least experience, yet fate seems to pivot upon you most of all. Lean on each other, you three, stick together, and act as each other's floats and anchors, for I do not think you could swim on your own,"

We nodded solemnly and he turned to Ria, "You are the youngest, barely fifteen, yet you have a wisdom beyond your years. It is not entirely your own, but the one who originally lent it to you meant no harm, trust your instincts when things not you speak through you. I fear another may have corrupted that wisdom along the way, though it may just be an old man's foolish ramblings. Rest assured that they will do no more than speak,"

Ria nodded, a mixture of relief and worry painted across her features, "Thank you for sharing such with me,"

He nodded, "Whether the knowledge has been corrupted or not, your instincts will share if the words are to be trusted. You are one that is strong-hearted, and you are well acquainted with your own. It helps you see the hearts of others. Do not be afraid to give others a nudge. Not all see hearts so clear as you,"

He raised his eyebrows meaningfully at her and she frowned, before her eyes lit up, "Oh!"

He smiled at her, "Give them a chance first, but be aware,"

Ameria smiled and hugged him in thanks, he smiled at her fondly.

He then turned to me, "You know what happened well, I dare say perhaps better than those who lived it, but your trials will be different. Do not be afraid to find your own path, at the same time, ask for guidance, do not stumble blindly through the dark,"

I nodded at him, committing his words to memory, "I won't forget,"

He smiled kindly at me, "This is serious, but do not be afraid to have fun, and above all, trust your heart to guide you, it will often know those around you better than you do yourself,"

I smiled back tentatively and gave him a hug as well, he patted my back and whispered the words, just loud enough for me to hear, "You are strong as you need to be, don't doubt,"

He pulled back and smiled at me, then turned to Anik, "You are young yet, but these two will look to you, in a different way than, yet at the same time that, you look to them. Protect them, but remember that you are part of them as much as they are a part of you. You inherited the same hero complex as is possessed by your father, you will be quick to sacrifice yourself for others, but remember, the emotional pain will hurt them much more than whatever pain death may bring to you,"

Anik nodded solemnly, "Of course,"

Phet stepped back and looked at the three of us once more, "Protecter, Healer-guide, Leader, you three make quite the trio," yet the way he murmured it made me think that he as thinking out loud rather than addressing us directly. Ren, Kishan, and Anamika glanced at each other, having heard with their tiger/god/goddess hearing what Phet said as clearly as we did and obviously as clueless as the three of us as to why we were singled out for group advice even though we were the least experienced among the nine.

Phet shook his head, "Speaking of protection," he turned to Kishan, "why have you not given your nephew his?"

Kishan blinked, confused, before enlightenment dawned on his face, "So Anik did inherent the tiger gene,"

Phet shook his head, "It was not passed on once originally broken, but surely you can recognize one of your chosen,"

Kishan's eyes widened, and he darted over to where Anik stood, turning into a tiger along the way. The black tiger sniffed at Anik and lowered his head along with a slight growl, and while I had to fight my natural instincts not to run away from such a large creature making such a guttural sound, Anik kneeled before the black cat, almost instinctively, and the tiger snuffled along his brow before stepping back in shock. The tiger morphed back to a man, "You're right," he breathed in wonder, before scowling, "The word 'chosen' is very misleading, it's always annoying trying to sort out who is and who isn't, and even among those that are, whether they're mine or someone else's,"

Having said his piece, Kishan extended a hand and helped his nephew back to his feet. As golden eyes flecked with bronze stared into an identical pair, Kishan smirked, "Quite honestly, I should have known as soon as I realized you got my eyes even though you were my brother's son. On the bright side, I won't need to give up an extra form to give you yours, on the down side, this might be a little painful,"

Kishan reached out and put a hand on Anik's forehead. The hand began to pulse with a golden light and Anik gritted his teeth in pain, a second later, Kishan followed suit. One of Anik's hands flew up and grasped onto his uncle's wrist. Anik's hand began to pulse with light in time with Kishan's, though instead of gold, bronze light shone from his hand. Both of the boys clenched the hand uninvolved in the pulsing glow that was becoming brighter by the second tightly enough that I could see a drop or two of blood welling from the places where their nails dug into their skin. Their eyes were screwed shut, but I didn't remember them closing, after a few agonizing minutes, though it seemed like hours, of the boys taking turns gasping in pain, they moved their hands away simultaneously and Kishan stumbled back a few steps while Anik fell to the ground in pain. Kelsey moved to help her son, but Anamika held a hand out to stop her, "He must do this on his own,"

I was on the verge of running over to help him myself when I realized Ria had had the same idea, she was darting over to help the man she saw as a brother. I reached out to grab her wrist, and she clenched mine as well, both of us stopping the other from running towards the man that writhed in pain. I glanced over to where the others stood. Nilima had buried her face in her husband's shoulder while Sunil murmured soothing words, looking away from the terrible sight though he couldn't block out the screams of pain. Anamika was still keeping Kelsey from running forward. There was a grim look on her face as she stared at Anik, making me wonder how many times in her years as Durga she had seen a similar sight. Kelsey had tears running down her cheeks, the hand on her shoulder clearly the only thing keeping her from running to her son. Kishan had moved over to where his brother had stood and was actively wrestling with him to keep him from dashing to where Anik was. Kishan managed to pin Ren down and Ren choked out the words, "You know as well as I what pain he's going through! And he hasn't had the experience with battles and pain we had when we were first turned! It will hurt all the more for him! Have lost your heart?"

Kishan bowed his head, "I know, but to help him would only worsen the pain,"

At these words, Ren froze and stopped struggling, "How?"

Kishan got off of his brother and helped him up, "The tiger is testing him, to help him would make the tiger to see him as weak. It would raise the stakes of the test. Besides, it won't be quite as strong a pain as it was for us. The tiger doesn't need to overcome another curse as well,"

As he said this, Kishan gripped his brother's shoulder and Ren returned the gesture. The two turned to face Anik, and I did the same. Anik had stopped writhing and screaming, and was merely gasping with the occasional twitch. He shuddered and stilled, before moving as though to stand. As he stood, his body morphed into an orange tiger with golden eyes. He laid down on the ground and gave a tentative chuffing sound. He cocked his head, apparently pleased with himself, and repeated the noise.

I turned to Ameria and gave a weak chuckle, "Guess his dream was a little more than a dream,"

She smiled tentatively back at me, still in shock, "Yeah,"

At this point, Kelsey and Ren threw off the hands holding them back and dashed over to Anik, Ren morphed into a tiger along the way and got there first, shifting to lie beside his son. Kelsey reached them just moments afterwards and fell to her knees on the other side of Anik. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his fur. Anik shifted back to a man and turned slightly until he was able to wrap his arms around her, "Hey, I'm fine, Mom,"

She gave a weak chuckle from where her face was buried in his shoulder, "It's a mother's job to worry, Nikky,"

Anik blushed, "Mom! You haven't called me 'Nikky' in years,"

She pulled back and glared, "Anik Kishan Rajaram! I can call you anything I want after having to watch you writhe in pain and scream on the ground for however long that was! Never scare me like that again!"

He winced and ducked his head, "Sorry, Mom,"

Ren walked over to the two and shifted back from tiger form, wrapping them in a hug as well, "Lighten up on the boy, Kells! Just so long as your safe son," He pulled back and grinned at Anik, "So, how does it feel to be a tiger?"

Anik thought for a moment before a slow smile spread across his face, "Good. Really good in fact. I've never felt more..." He trailed off, and shook his head, "More alive," he finished confidently.

The family of three stood up to find Phet beaming, "Good! Now we're making progress!" He turned around took a few steps towards his house, turned around again, "Well, come in," before turning around one last time and going into the house. With a few glances at each other, we followed him into the hut.

To my shock, the hut was much larger than the exterior would suggest. It was rather barren, but there was a clear bedroom, a clear dining room, a clear herbal preparation room, and a door leading to what I assumed was a bathroom. There were no boundaries, other than the door, between the different rooms, but they were clear all the same.

"How...?"

Based on Kelsey's confused question, she was as perplexed as I as to how this had been accomplished.

Phet smiled, "I do like living sparsely, but I'm old enough to enjoy a few comforts, don't you think?"

He waved his hand towards the dining room area, which had a round table large enough to sit all ten of us, the walked over to where Kelsey had sat.

He held out his hand, "May I see the amulet Miss Kahl-see?"

She smiled, "Of course," and pulled the chain that it was resting on over her neck. She handed it to the old monk who proceeded to move over to the remaining seat between Kelsey and Nilima.

He frowned, staring at the amulet, and traced along the lines where the amulet had once been broken. The lines began to glow, before dimming again. "Perhaps..." he murmured thoughtfully, and pressed at the center of the amulet. The amulet began to glow along the lines again, before it started to shake and flared brightly.

After I blinked the spots out of my vision, I was surprised to find Phet beaming down at the amulet which had once more been split into five pieces, somehow each with their own chain.

I heard a wheezing sound and glanced over to see Kishan picking himself up off the floor, "Could ya warn me next time you decide to snap my amulet into five different pieces? It's not so bad right now because I'm my original self instead of one of my other forms, but it still hurts!"

Phet gave a little grin, "I figured it would be like pulling of a bandage. Best to get it over with fast,"

That being said, he picked up the piece of the amulet closest to him and turned it over in his hands. "Fire," He handed it to Kelsey. He the picked up a piece he determined to be "Earth," which he proceeded to hand to Sunil. The piece that was "Space-Time," was passed to Ameria. Meanwhile, "Water," was given to Nilima, and, to my surprise, the piece determined to be "Air," was handed to me. As I slipped the chain over my head, I was startled by the sudden sense of clarity, of every current in the air becoming it's own distinct entity. My fingers itched to try and command them, but I knew now wasn't the time.

Phet smiled, "Good!" Before becoming more serious, "Now that protection has been sorted out, we can get down to a more serious business. I don't know when it started exactly, and I don't know where or who or how or even why. But I do know what is going on. Someone has started up a plague. I've studied several cases of it, and this is what I have determined. Those aged twenty or younger, chronologically, not physically or mentally, seem to be nearly immune, though it's not a sure fact. It will not affect those untouched by the supernatural world, but it will readily affect anyone with the slightest hint of a connection. It is highly contagious. And without the help of deities, the whole world could be thrown into disarray,"

"Yinbailong, the white dragon" Kelsey breathed, "he controls the entire axis of the earth, if he were to fall ill..." She trailed off, horrified at the potential ramifications.

Anamika looked grim, "And that's just the beginning. Even the loss of Cloacina might spawn global catastrophe,"

Sunil blinked, "Erm, Cloacina?"

Kishan smiled, "A minor Roman Goddess, very nice girl. We don't see her very often. She's rather... Pungent,"

Sunil blinked, "Do I want to know?"

Kishan beamed, "Probably not, but I'm telling you anyway! She's the goddess of the sewers!"

Anamika swatted the back of her husband's head, "I didn't use her name as an example so you could make fun of the poor girl. I chose her name because she's a minor goddess from a single religion," At this, Anamika shook her head, "Poor thing doesn't even have Greek counterpart,"

Phet shook his head, "Such matters aside, from samples I have studied, I may have found a way to fix this mess,"

I sat up straight, all ears, "How?"

Phet sighed, "It won't be easy,"

Kelsey gave a wry half-smile, "These things never are. What should we do?"

Phet pulled out a piece of parchment that seemed to have a list of ingredients on it, "You'll need ten Phoenix tears, an ounce of pegacorn blood, they're sometimes called alicorns, a scale from each of the five dragons, two apples of immortality from Hera's garden, not Juno's, a half-gallon of water from the lake of the Lady of the Lake, a pint of nectar from Shangri-la, and two petals of a moly flower. Please remember for the moly flower that if it's not picked by a deity it will be poisonous instead of healing. You'll need to find a way to combine them into some sort of liquid. I would recommend melting it with a combination of the fire amulet segment and the rope of fire. Then, find whatever object this plague is linked to. Once immersed in the liquid, it should cancel any affects, and that should be tha-"

Phet was cut off when he was struck by an awful coughing fit.

Kelsey and Nilima, who were the closest to the old monk, were out of their chairs and by his side in seconds.

"No! *cough* Get away *cough* from me! *cough* I spent *cough* too much time *cough* around those sick with the disease!"

He broke down into another coughing fit, before he had no breath left to cough with and was merely shuddering and wheezing. All the same, he made shooing motions with his hands, urgently trying to get us to leave.

Sunil snatched up the scroll, and he and Anamika each patted their old teacher's shoulder on their way out. The man managed a weak smile, before he was torn into another fit. This time, however, he was coughing up blood as well.

With a cry of, "Teacher!" They were back beside him, but the man continued to shoo us away, "The faster you're gone, *cough**cough**cough* the faster you can find the cure!*cough*"

I was the last one out the door, I couldn't help but linger in the doorway, "Will you-?"

Phet managed a weak smile, and a nod.

And with one last backwards glance, I was gone.

**Please review! It will help me right faster, and better! Even if you didn't like it for some reason, I want to know what you're thinking! Please?**


End file.
